Mississippi ranks #5 overall out of the 51 U.S. jurisdictions for its friendliness towards faith-based nonprofit organizations, making it one of the best places to operate a faith-based nonprofit in the United States. Mississippi has several laws that facilitate the contributions of faith-based nonprofits, including broad protections for religious organizations related to employment laws, a state RFRA statute. Additionally, Mississippi has no nondiscrimination laws related to public accommodations. Mississippi, however, has some policies that are burdensome to faith-based nonprofits operating in the state, such as a burdensome audit requirement for nonprofits that are registered to solicit funds in Mississippi.
The Mississippi Constitution follows in lockstep with the federal constitution’s protections, meeting but not exceeding the required minimum protections of the First Amendment (as currently interpreted by the US Supreme Court).
Mississippi has enacted a RFRA that protects the religious free exercise of all individuals and entities by requiring government burdens on religious exercise to satisfy strict scrutiny. Since the RFRA is a statute rather than a state constitutional provision, Mississippi does not receive the highest score for this factor.
The Mississippi Constitution contains a Blaine Amendment that could prevent the participation of faith-based schools in generally available public benefit programs on the same terms as similarly situated secular schools. This is not as broad as a general Blaine Amendment, which prohibits all aid to faith-based institutions, but is still detrimental to the work of faith-based institutions. Current U.S. Supreme Court precedent has rendered this language ineffective in many cases, but it could become effective in the future if Court precedent changes.
Mississippi nonprofit corporation law includes certain provisions to protect religious nonprofits’ right to self-government in internal affairs in some situations, including a provision that defers to ecclesiastical law or religious doctrine in the event that the religious law or doctrine conflicts with the nonprofit corporation law to the extent required by the Constitution of the United States or the Mississippi constitution.
Mississippi law permits a director, in the fulfillment of the director’s fiduciary duties, to rely on the opinion of individuals who can reasonably be assumed to have expertise on a certain matter but does not expressly allow a director to rely on guidance from religious figures within his or her faith tradition.
Mississippi generally requires charitable solicitation registration and only exempts a subset of religious organizations, such as certain schools as well as organizations primarily supported by government grants or contracts, funds solicited from their own membership, congregations or previous donors, and fees charged for services rendered.
As a condition of maintaining authorization to fundraise in the state, Mississippi requires the submission of reviewed or audited financials for organizations with annual contributions of $250,000 or more.
Mississippi imposes property tax and provides only fragmented property tax exemptions that include only a narrow subset of religious organizations or that apply only to a narrow category of religious and/or charitable property uses.
